Asbestos packing.



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ALEXANDER WARRELL, OF ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA, ASSIGNOR TO CONTINENTAL ASBESTOS CORPORATION, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A

CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

ASBESTOS PACKING.

masses.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALEXANDER VVARRELL, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a resident of St. John, Province of New Brunswick and Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and useful Asbestos Packing, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact disclosure, such as will enable others skilled in this art to perceive the mannor in which this invention may be carried out in practice.

'way of such embodiment thereof.

To facilitate a better understanding of the commercial importance and essential charactor of this invention, it may be preliminarily recalled that the material now in vogue for packing railroad journals consists, for the better grades, of woolen waste (costing approximately $120 per ton) saturated with a suitable lubricating oil. Sometimes this woolen waste also contains more or less cotton. N ow, packing of this character has because of its many admirable qualities gone into universal usage, which status it has maintained for want of an essentially better substitute, notwithstanding the general recognition that it is still open to improvement in certain particulars which, having for long been well known, need not here be specifically catalogued. As an instance, however, it may be noted that the heat of friction of a rapidly rotating journal in the absence of a copious supply of oil and for other reasons has not infrequently become so intense as to melt the bearing-metal and cause the combustible woolen or cotton waste in the journal box to burst into flames; oftentimes with a concomitant serious delay, and occasionally leading to even more undesirable consequences. I have however made extensive experiments and investigations, culminating in the note- Specification 01" Letters Ratent.

Application filed April 26, 1909.

the heretofore used material.

Patented June 15, 1915.

Serial No. 492,146.

worthy discovery that the woolen waste (of animal origin) and also the cotton waste (of vegetable origin) may both be replaced with great resultant advantages by an essentially dissimilar m terial of an altogether different origin, 0., of an inorganic origin, while at the same time preserving or maintaining most if not all of the desirable qualities of That is to say, by compounding the packing of asbestos and oil, I have produced a putty-like packing (characteristically unlike the fluffy .wool packing) and have in an essentially practical manner realized the objects of this invention by overcoming the more important disadvantages of the now-used material.

T preferably employ, in carrying out my invention, a material which may be regarded as the tailings of an asbestos mill.

The preferred grade of asbestos will be sniliciently saturated or impregnated with lubricating oil of a suitable grade, such as that ordinarily employed in connection with existing packings of wool or cotton, and for that purpose it will generally suiiice to use about one gallon of lubricating oil to 25 parts of the asbestos. The resultant product forms a rather coherent putty-like mass of a dark-brownish color which very efficiently retains the absorbed oil. This packing material is very well adapted for handling, shaping and placing in position wherever needed, and is furthermore unusually clean because of the fact that the oil is so intimately retained in the pores of the mass.

Inasmuch as one skilled in this art would hardly suppose at the bare suggestion that asbestos of a comparatively low grade could be compounded with ordinary lubricating oil to form a packing capable of advantageously replacing woolen packing or the like now in industrial use, especially in view of the unusual putty-like nature of the re sultant compound, it is deemed essential to a full disclosure of this invention to more or less detail its properties as adduced by my practical tests. Speaking in a comparative sense, my oil-asbestos packing is practically non-combustible inasmuch as it is largely composed of the non-combustible asbestos, as contradistinguished from either woolen or cotton mixtures which being of animal or vegetable origin are highly combustible. Furthermore, the asbestos itself is possessed cannot be said that either woolen or cotton 7 is lubricant per .96. Then also, the compact and more or less coherent nature of my oilasbestos packing enables it to keep its place and present ample supplies of lubricating matter to the bearings, especially in view of its high oil-absorbing capacity. Moreover, because of its peculiar physical formation, this packing is very easy to handleand apply, and because of its cleanly putty-like nature, it is agreeable to work with.

As illustrative of the efficiency of my oilasbestos packing, I may state that I have tested the same on engines and cars of from 60,000 lbs. to 100,000 weight and have ascertained that the preferred form will run from three to six months without further attention and that it not only takes up additional supplies of oil very readily, but also holds such oil against exudation and loss. It has also been noted that the car journals and bearings wear longer and that the end wear on the .brasses is also greatly reduced. It of course withstands heat and cold and prevents the journals from overheating or the boxes from taking fire, as is so frequent with the packing now in universal vogue, and when the packing has become unduly clogged or filled with the accumulationsof long service, it is possible to burn it out in a fire to renew it ready for being again saturated with oil. Even in the case of hot-boxes with the ordinary woolen packing on fire, I have ascertained that the trouble may be eliminated without stopping the train, even though running at from 35 to miles an hour, by applying my oil-asbestos packing. It is apprehended that this follows from the fact that the fine asbestos fibers saturated with oil tend to adhere to the hot rotating journal and quickly lubricate the same, thus reducing the friction to thenormal and enabling the journal to be come cool in a short time.

The termsI have adopted in thus disclosing my invention have been employed in an illustrative rather than in a specific sense, and accordingly I desire that the same shall be viewed and interpreted with the full range of equivalency to which I am rightly entitled, and to this end, such other specific substances and analogous materials as my disclosure will naturally suggest in the light of-current knowledge to those skilled in the art as available for producing corresponding results, are to be regarded as at least representing embodiments of the generic features of this invention, although the special advantages characteristic of the more intense aspect of my invention may not be fully attained.

I therefore claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States:

1. As a means for lubricating axle journals, a compoundof putty-like cons stency, consisting of a mass of soapstone asbestos tailings intimately impregnated with sufficient mineral lubricating oil to provide the consistency desired.

2. As a means for lubricating axle journals, a compound consisting of 24 parts soapstone tailings, intimately impregnated k with one part mineral lubricating oil to form a mass of putty-like consistency.

3. As a means for'lubricating axle jour nals, an inorganic compound consisting of 24 parts soapstone asbestos tailings intimately impregnated with one part'mineral lubricating oil to form a mass of putty like consistency.

In testimony whereof,I have hereunto aflixed my signature, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALEXANDER WARRELL. Witnesses:

GIFFORD 7111111011, f WILLARD W. CARwnLL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

